BBC Three and Documentaries

On November 26th 2015, it was announced that the BBC Trust has approved proposals to move the UK channel aimed at viewers aged 16-25 online, on the condition that the channel’s most popular programmes will be shown on BBC One and Two. I have been following the developments in this story for many months now and had hoped that the channel would remain in our TV guides at least for the next few years. However, due to the Trust’s decision, as of January 2016 the BBC Three TV channel will begin telling its audience to watch on it’s two more traditional channels.

The Trust had obviously decided to not listen to the petition handed over to them earlier in the year. This was signed by over 250,000 people included stars such as Daniel Radcliffe, Matt Lucas, Olivia Colman and Radio 1 DJ Greg James. As you can imagine, they were also terribly unhappy with the decision; Jono Read, from the #SaveBBC3 campaign, called the decision “bitterly disappointing and…a very sad day for the future of the BBC”.

Personally, I will miss the channel’s documentaries such as the recent ‘Breaking the Mould’ series, which is the channel’s collection of documentaries on (strangely) controversial subjects such as “Is this Rape?: Sex on Trial”, “Footballer’s, Sex, Money – What’s Gone Wrong?” and “Britain’s Biggest Sexists”. I encourage anyone in my age bracket to check out this brilliant collection of surprisingly thought-provoking shows before they’re removed from BBC IPlayer next month.

I cannot begin to express how much disappointment I feel towards the BBC’s decision, to remove a channel that produces such worthwhile content as this. These programmes could, in time, really have changed young people’s attitudes towards bigger issues in society. They certainly had an effect on my values.

I understand that some older viewers will be glad to see the back of the channel and may not be particularly interested in the, sometimes controversial and frankly, quite unusual topics covered on BBC 3‘s shows. However, I thought that this what the BBC were all about – appealing to the British public – all audiences of all ages, races and backgrounds. If this is the case then they can’t be seen to be conforming to their charter.